SAM Magazine--New York, February 1, 2007--With state-owned ski areas already exempt from sales taxes on equipment and energy purchases, the time may have come for private ski areas in New York to reap some tax benefits of their own. Under a bill proposed by State Senator Elizabeth Little, private resorts could see tax relief from sales and use taxe...

SAM Magazine-Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Jan. 30, 2007-With one of the strangest winters on record making things tough for resort operators on both the west and east coasts, June Mountain shuttered its doors for the season on Jan. 29 due to a lack of snow. The mountain currently has a mere 3-18 inch base, and a reopening is unlikely even if the Sierra M...

SAM Magazine-New York, Jan. 26, 2007-Bonnier Magazine Group and its U.S. partner, World Publications, are buying the 18 magazines Time Inc. put up for sale last September. The group includes Ski, Skiing, TransWorld Snowboarding, and the rest of the TransWorld stable. Estimated sale price is $220 million to $230 million. Bonnier said the acquisit...

SAM Magazine - Les Arcs, France, January 25, 2007 - Intrawest is committing to a second project in the French resort of Les Arcs. The company, which is close to finishing its first project at the resort, Arc 1950 Le Village, has announced that the new project will be located at Arc 1800 and will be called Edenarc 1800. Edenarc will be a four-st...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., January 22, 2007--Booth Creek Ski Holdings, Inc. (Booth Creek), owner of six mountain resort properties and select real estate holdings, announced today that it has been purchased by three principals of the company: George Gillett, chairman; Chris Ryman, president; Elizabeth Cole, chief financial officer. Jeff Joyce, a lo...

SAM Magazine--January, 22, 2007, Flagstaff, AZ--A storm this past weekend brought the Arizona Snowbowl 12 to 18 inches of new and wind-driven snow to the slopes. The optimism is high that the resort will be able to open limited terrain this week. "We did experience a lot of wind last night into today and conditions on the slopes are looking ...

SAM Magazine - Brighton, UT., January 20, 2007 - Utah's Brighton ski area has been purchased from Boyne USA by Orlando, Florida-based CNL Income Properties. The purchase includes the 850-acre ski and snowboard resort with its 66 marked runs and seven chairlifts, two restaurants, 20-room lodge, ski rental operation and retail space at the ski area's...

SAM Magazine-Revelstoke, B.C., Jan. 17, 2007-Revelstoke Mountain Resort, located on Mt. MacKenzie and in the process of being developed by Canada's Simpson Property Group, will soon feature a C$22 million gondola and high speed quad chairlift built by Leitner Poma Canada Inc. The signature lifts are scheduled for summer 2007 installation, in time t...

SAM Magazine--Lakewood, Colo., January 16, 2007--Recent cold temperatures and reports of snowfall at several resorts in the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast regions are welcomed news to the entire ski industry. Nevertheless, the 2006/07 season will be recorded as one of the most challenging for some ski area operators. Recognizing this, NSAA has re...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Jan. 17, 2007-In an effort to bring the mountains to the people, Winter Park has started to make snow and install terrain-park features on Denver's unique Ruby Park. Located just outside of downtown Denver, the Ruby Hill Rail Yard is the first resort-built city terrain park for riders and skiers. The resort expects to make more...

SAM Magazine-Alta, Ut., Jan. 17, 2007-With adult single-day tickets at Aspen and Vail rising to more than $80, it may come as a surprise that Alta has been offering free lift-served skiing and riding for years. The area's Sunnyside chairlift provides free lift access for the last 90 minutes of the ski day. The deal is designed to give lower inte...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Jan. 16, 2007-Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) member resorts posted record-setting skier visitation for the season through Dec. 31, 2006. Collectively, the 26 resorts hosted 3,285,649 skiers and snowboarders, an increase of 6.74 percent, or 207,533 visits, over last season's record. "To see such a positive increase over wh...

SAM Magazine-Wilmington, Vt., Jan. 15, 2006-The Haystack Mountain Club, an exclusive private ski area, golf and equestrian resort being built on the bones of the old Haystack ski area, has suspended operations and laid off all but a few employees, according to a report in the local Deerfield Valley News. Contractors working at the site have receive...

SAM Magazine - Steamboat Springs, Colo., January 13, 2007 - Observers of the industry will remember Colorado's Stagecoach ski area. The resort, outside of Steamboat, never got off the ground, although a cat skiing operation did find modest success on the resort's trails in the 1990s. Today, however, the resort is booming, with three times as many h...

SAM Magazine - Pinkham Notch, NH, January 8, 2007 - While common in Europe, zip lines are just starting to make inroads in North America. The latest resort that has announced plans to install zip lines is New Hampshire's Wildcat Mountain. Wildcat's zip line , which should be operational by June, will feature two cables, allowing for side-by-side...